Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay Tuesday afternoon was more ghostwriting. I was late getting started with it, due to date work and scheduling a couple of blog posts in advance. But by the time I got around to it, I'd run out of steam. I was left with a choice: Stare at a blank… Continue reading Time management
Tag: Marcie Craig
A better day
I had a much better day yesterday. 10-project planner Once I'd written yesterday's blog, which was 1,293 words before I even started anything else, I moved on to my 10-project planner to add in all the projects I'm working on first. These are: ghostwriting gig (63,000 words in total, 40,000 for January) The Beast Within… Continue reading A better day
NaNoWriMo Prep: Day 5
My NaNoWriMo for 2020 starts today. I'm still having weekends off, and I'm still having some long weekends with the poet. This means that my daily target is just under 3,000 words. I'll also be a (working) day behind on the blog. So today's blog, for example, is where I was at by the end… Continue reading NaNoWriMo Prep: Day 5
Tier 3 lockdown
Hatfield Moor. (© Ian Wordsworth, 2020) Here is another image from our walk around Hatfield Moor last week. I love that blue glow on the water. It makes it look like some kind of grotto, or as though something magical may emerge at any moment. As South Yorkshire enters tier 3 lockdown on Saturday, we… Continue reading Tier 3 lockdown
I’ve been having a play …
... because, like, I'm really, really busy. Everybody else seems perfectly able to use Canva for promotional material, but I didn't even know where to start. And when another one ended up on my newsfeed in Facebook, I just had to have a go. I found a step-by-step idiot guide and took it from there.… Continue reading I’ve been having a play …
Diary of a pocket novel – and an oxymoron …
I've always wanted to write a pocket novel. There are two of our weekly magazines who publish pocket novels (PNs) – or apx. 39,000-word novellas – and as far as I know they both publish something like two PNs a month. The word-count requirement fluctuates, but they're roughly 35,000 – 45,000 words long at one… Continue reading Diary of a pocket novel – and an oxymoron …
Diary of a Novel: special characters – part 2
Okay, at the start of this week I'd hit a brick wall and was struggling with whether or not to have a "supporter" character in my story. I've been playing around with this all week, shuffling between various scenarios. Could my supporter also be my opponent? Could Marcie's mom be both cheer-girl and devil's advocate?… Continue reading Diary of a Novel: special characters – part 2
Diary of a Novel: special characters – part 1
Now, when I say "special" I don't mean "special" as such, I mean "other important characters not mentioned already". According to Ron D Voigts and Writing the Killer Mystery, these "special" characters consist of the following: sidekick opponent supporter My "sidekick" was easy. That's going to be Woody (aka Mark Palmer/Woodstock) from Night Crawler. He was… Continue reading Diary of a Novel: special characters – part 1
Diary of a Novel: the sleuth
I didn't get very much work done on the novel at the weekend as we did shopping and gardening on Saturday, the poet had a gig Saturday night, and we were out all day Sunday, walking. Saying that, I did start work on the characters on Saturday morning, writing 85 words. This was mostly writing… Continue reading Diary of a Novel: the sleuth
Diary of a Novel: 2 April 2019
Having abandoned – temporarily – Catch the Rainbow, yesterday I started work on The Beast Within: a Marcie Craig mystery. Marcie Craig is the main protagonist and amateur sleuth in my first novel Night Crawler. Whereas that novel was set in a pub where she works as a rock DJ, this story is set in… Continue reading Diary of a Novel: 2 April 2019
What took them so long?
*** AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION REQUESTED *** For the past four weeks there has been an inquest into the Birmingham pub bombings of 1974. Much of my book, Catch the Rainbow, was set against that period. Some of the plot hinged on speculation and suggestion behind the atrocity on my part. So far, quite a lot of… Continue reading What took them so long?
NaNoWriMo 2018 – day 8
So now I'm thinking, if I can do this in November for NaNoWriMo, why can't I do it the rest of the year as well? My daily target is 2,000 words, which means I can also have 5 days off. My usual daily target is around 1,000 words per writing day. If I upped that… Continue reading NaNoWriMo 2018 – day 8
NaNoWriMo 2018 begins
And so it begins again ... I was a little late to the party this year. For the past few years I've been ready to go by the end of play on 31 October. This year, I finished most of the prep at around 1:30pm today. Eek! When I say prep, I mean my Scrivener… Continue reading NaNoWriMo 2018 begins
NaNoWriMo 2018 – decision made
With only a week to go I finally made a decision, and I'm hoping it's the right one ... bit of a gamble, but that's how it goes. This year I'm being a NaNoReBel - again! Last year I chose to write a non-fiction book: A History of Cadbury (to be published on 30 November… Continue reading NaNoWriMo 2018 – decision made
